Primary 1 to Primary 3 pupils to retured to school on Monday
Education Minister Peter Weir wants all pupils in the North of Ireland back in classrooms by Monday, April 12.
A paper from Mr Weir recommends that all primary pupils who have not yet returned to school (primaries four to seven) should start on March 22.
Primary school children are due to resume remote learning on that date, with years 12 to 14 back to school.
Mr Weir has said he wants to scrap the plan for pupils in primaries one to three, who returned to class on Monday, to revert to remote learning.
The minister argued that plan did not make “enormous sense” and that those year groups should be allowed to continue with face-to-face learning.
Department of Health advisers previously warned against a full return of schools like in England, instead recommending a phased approach.
Speaking at a Covid-19 briefing at Stormont on Wednesday, Health Minister Robin Swann said people still had to be careful about the spread of coronavirus if restrictions were to be eased.
“I fully understand calls for restrictions to be relaxed and I understand the impatience, however, we still have to tread carefully and never underestimate this virus.
“We have to build steadily on the progress we had because we are turning the corner so let’s keep going.”
More than 600,0000 people in Northern Ireland have now received at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine.
At the same briefing, Chief Medical Officer Dr Michael McBride said that while the vaccine rollout was operating ahead of schedule, the “battle itself is not over, let alone won”.
He added that it was “quite right” for executive ministers to evaluate how Northern Ireland would ease out of lockdown most effectively but he urged that the public health advice should continue to be followed.
On Wednesday, the Department of Health announced that another eight people had died with Covid-19 and 147 more had tested positive for the virus.
There were no further deaths in the Derry City and Strabane District Council area and just four new cases.
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